Over the Baw Baw Mountains: Part 2
Published in The Bendigo Advertiser, Thursday 21st January 1909, page 5
By L. F. Apperley
Return to Over the Baw Baw Mountains: Part 1
A diary of a pedestrian trip from Warburton to Walhalla by Mr. L. F. Apperley.
Sunday, 20/12/08.—We awoke early, to be greeted with a sharp frost, and had to break the ice in our buckets to wash, for we had left the buckets outside. To-day’s trip was not a long one, but we found early morning travelling the best, and, besides, we had climbing to do. The next shelter shed is 37 miles from McVeigh’s, or 57 from Warburton, i.e., eight miles from the second shed, but we had to leave the path to climb Mt. Baw Baw itself, and so made an extra six miles. We arrived at the branch track at about 8·30 or 9 a.m., and dropped our swags, which were getting much lighter now.
Baw Baw is a peak isolated from the rest of the range, and we dipped down into several desolate bogs, climbed over small hills, and made a wide detour to avoid another large bog before we reach one end of the mount. After a little spell we began the ascent, which was not much, seeing that we were already well over 4000ft. above sea level, but the climb was very rough. After reaching the top we went along the summit a little way till we came to the cairn, a trigonometrical station, which we climbed, and the view we obtained well repaid us our scratches and sweating and swearings. Mt. Baw Baw is 5130ft. high (compare Macedon, 3000 odd feet?), and from it we could see away over the ranges to the south, Neerim, Warragul, and Beaconsfield, while to the left were Mounts Erica (5000ft.), Kernot (called after our Professor Kernot), and Talbot. To the right were the peaks and plateau, over which we had climbed, and the Yarra valley between. The whole view was, however, somewhat obscured by numerous bush fires dotted all over the ranges.
The return trip of three miles to the track had nothing exciting, except a short chase from a bull, which was roaming round. It was strange to see how we all trailed one behind the other in Indian file, with different leaders at different times. We always feared when Kerr led; he used to take us at four miles per hour for miles and miles, and this pace did not agree with some members. Arrived back on the old track, on Mt. St. Phillack (5140ft.), we rested, and had lunch in a pretty little spot surrounded by huge granite boulders. Our camera fiend snapped us at lunch with our swags strewn about. The rest of the afternoon was spent in covering the four miles to the third and last hut on Mt. Erica.
The track was very rough, and a lot of climbing and tramping over soft bog land had to be done, and it proved to be no joke at all. However, it was mostly down hill, for which we were thankful. We passed on our left hand side Mt. Kernot, thickly clothed in a forest of dead snow gum, and Mt. St. Gwinear (4950ft.), and between the two could be seen a beautiful glimpse of a huge valley called Mustering Flat, backed up by rows and rows of ranges. The same could be seen to the right hand also, and in front Mount Erica (5000) and Talbot with a saddleback between them. Mount Erica does not resemble the usual type of Australian mountain at all. It appears more bare, and is covered with huge masses of granite. For sheer ruggedness it resembles pictures I have seen of Swiss mountains.
We reached the hut (57 miles from Warburton) after a stiff climb to wind up with, and found it perched away up on Erica and overlooking the finest mountain scenery I have seen. However, we did not have time at present to notice much of this because we had been without water for five miles, and now found to our disgust that the creek here was dried up, and so, tired as we were, we had to set out to look for water. We found some bog-pools about a quarter of a mile away, and so we filled up our buckets and brought it back to the shed. We found the shed in a dirty condition: the last party there were evidently not fond of cleaning up, and had filled up one room with a few small trees. This, I suppose, was firewood, and had left the plates dirty, so while some cleaned the plates others swept up, and soon our bad impression of the hut was swept away with the dirt, and we found it most cosy.
The first thing was to wash, and our friends would have laughed to see us sitting on granite rocks washing our feet, then our socks, and one man ventured on his shirt. We now had time to look round, and found our hut was perched up on granite boulders overlooking the finest and deepest valley one could wish to see. The valley across to the other side must have been four or five miles wide, and very deep in proportion. We could see a small farmhouse and clearing on the other side, and they appeared as a mere dot and smudge. As we were much higher than the mountains opposite we could see over them, and over those again and so on: in fact, we could see range upon range extending far away to the horizon until the last was so faint as to be hardly distinguishable. Our view was quite uninterrupted, because of the large size of the granite boulders on which we sat. Away to the right hand side we could see one or two mountain ranges, and away past that again the flat lands and a large sheet of water on the horizon, probably the Gippsland Lakes.
There were numerous bush fires sweeping through the ranges, and at night they presented a brilliant picture, for from our immense height (5000ft.) we could see all round, and as a high wind had sprung up towards evening the fires burned up with a will. The mountains away in front of us are the Victorian end of the Australian Alps, and they stood out beautifully. We had a glorious tea and being hungry enjoyed it all the more. Our chief cook (Downing) is a great chap, and is a wonderful cook. He made excellent soup from tinned rabbit; then we filled up the rest with apricots and rice, and any odd corners left unfilled we poured tea into. The rise in tightness of our garments was easily perceptible. The evening was spent much as usual—some reading, some yarning, some smoking, and I writing up these notes. We turned in early as we had to be up early. The night was most boisterous, the wind rose almost to a gale, and I confess I was very much afraid that the roof would come off. However, I managed to sleep, and the roof managed to stay on in spite of my fears and the wind.
Monday, 21/12/08.—I rose at about 4 a.m. to see the sun rise, and imagine my surprise when I saw a sea of clouds hundreds of feet below me, with islands here and there representing the mountains which had thrust their bristling heads through the foam into the clear air above. The marvellous beauty of the whole was enhanced by a long streak of brilliant red on the sky at the horizon, and some of this scarlet was thrown on to the cloud-foam and formed a picture which I will never forget. The whole of the flat lands were invisible, but the rows and rows of mountain chains could easily be seen above cloud level. As morning drew on the wind blew these clouds off, and left the sun shining on and reflected from the sheet of water which I have mentioned. The shadows cast by the mountains contrasted beautifully with the lit-up portions, and we had a picture presented to us of different shades of blue blended with the dark green of the nearer peaks. I was contemplating this wonderful panorama when I was suddenly brought back to earth by “Come and help make breakfast, fathead,” so I had to depart.
This night had not been so cold, so we did not have any ice to break, and our washing was consequently more comfortable. After breakfast, as usual, I did the washing up, with another. At 7·15 we were once more on the track, with light swags, and the last stage of the journey—14 miles to Walhalla—and we wished to cover this 14 miles before lunch, and succeeded easily. After a tramp across a low-lying bog, we crossed the Saddleback between Mt. Erica and Mt. Talbot, and then began the difficult descent from our lofty perch. Down, down, down: first through the dead snow gums, then the well-known “The Rocks.” These are huge granite boulders, placed one upon the other, and quite smooth, so as to resemble huge mushrooms, and piled up into most grotesque shapes. After climbing about a bit to get a good view, Hoadley snapped them, and then we were off again.
Down, still down, we got into the tall gum forest zone once again, and we were struck with the absolute straightness of these huge giants towering up above us. Between the trees and lower down grew tree ferns, clematis and undergrowth luxuriantly. On looking back we could see the mountain high above us. We had dropped 3000ft. in three miles! As we got much lower our path led for about six miles up small hills and down dales. We got pretty tired of climbing these hills every few hundred yards and swore vengeance on the designer of the track should we ever discover him. He seemed to have a most unfortunate knack of hitting the very summit of these hills with his path every time. We had now left water some miles behind, and discovered to our grief that we had to go eight miles for our next drink—the Thompson River.
After a lot of hot and dusty walking, over part of the track across which timber from the bush fires had fallen, we reached the river which is a fine stream here, coming down between two steep hills. After crossing the bridge we were very disappointed to find that we had three more dusty miles of road, and so we trudged wearily along. This 14 mile walk would not have been so bad but our leader, Kerr, went off at a terrible pace, and kept it up all the way, so that we arrived at Walhalla at 11:30 a.m. The road from the river is cut round the mountain-side along the edge of the deep gorge, at the bottom of which mining is being carried on. In many places the machinery is worked by overshot waterwheels, and these wheels are very large, and must be of considerable power.
At last we arrived in Walhalla, a most queer little town, consisting of only one street with high hills on each side, and mines stuck into the sides of them. The street winds all over the place, and one wonders where he will be in the next minute. Evidently a good many tramps or tourists arrive here, because we did not seem to excite any comment, and we looked fearful thugs. We went to the first hotel and asked for a good square meal and a bath, but a glance at the bathroom was enough. We changed our minds, and decamped to another hotel, where we had a glorious bath, had a shave (for we all had long beards on), and a real good lunch.
The party now begins to break up. Kerr has gone to Moe to catch the train to Melbourne. Clarke and Hoadley leave by the 2 a.m. coach to-night, and Downing, Humphreys and I leave for Toongabbie in the morning on foot. We have just seen the “Argus,” and found that Clarke has distinguished himself by winning the chemistry exhibition in first year medicine, so we gave him a jolly good-bye. Thus ends one of the best trips I have ever had, and one of the cheapest. Including train fare, our expenses were 8/2 when we arrived in Walhalla. We intend trying this trip again during first vacation, when the snow will be on the mountains, and should have as good a trip as this one on the Baw Baw Mountains.
